Gremlins
The 80s were a glorious time in more ways than one for American cinema, an era of original creative thinking and freedom along with the big budgets to support and accommodate such ideas. As the decade wore on and more original screenplays were being bought and produced to supplement the American ticket buyer’s imagination, so did in particular the comedy and horror films of that day as they underwent a change into being more and more subversive, effectively destroying and deconstructing all that we held dear from the inside and within our society. Perhaps the best (or maybe the purest) example of this was this 1984 release directed by Joe Dante (one of the true Les Enfants Terrible in the wave of incredibly brilliant yet certifiably insane directors of the decade) working from a script from Chris Columbus (soon to be an A list director himself doing everything from Home Alone to Harry Potter films) that quickly and efficiently whipped up its own mythology to support its premise then went from that to systemically demolishing everything that we held dear about a Norman Rockwell type of small American town that may never have really existed to begin with except in feel good movies such as It’s A Wonderful Life (which this film deliberately emulates in many direct ways and even shows a TV clip from). The main setting (a small town called Kingston Falls) is one of those places where all of the residents are on a first name basis with each other, The Sheriff waltzes around like he’s everybody’s best friend, and the local tavern is considered a town landmark because it’s been said that everybody’s mom and dad got engaged there. But there is actually something else beneath this idyllic, cordial surface. A recession is in play leaving many out of work, a wicked witch type real estate owner has everyone in town in hock to her for either their mortgage or rent, and a number of people in the town whether they be well off or not carry a bitter, cynical air about them that permeates through the pores of the town like the sun does through the ozone layer. The perfect recipe for the imminent destruction that is coming from the gang of crazed anarchists that is comprised of the title creatures. But to start from the beginning, Dante opens the film with a beautifully composed shot of the hustle and bustle of Chinatown as we see Rand Peltzer (Country and folk singing legend Hoyt Axton), a very affable yet semi nutcase inventor with a penchant for trying to fast talk his products right into people’s faces, being led down a flight of stairs by a young boy into his grandfather’s store, with the Grandfather himself being played by Keye Luke, easily one of the greatest Asian acting legends in the history of Hollywood. While there, Axton happens upon a lovable little creature called a Mogwai whom he eventually affectionately names Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel, already famous at that point for his serious dramatic role on TV’s St. Elsewhere as well as for being known as a lunatic stand up comic who often incorporated funny voices into his act) who enjoys sitting in his cage, singing, and looking and acting absolutely adorable. When the Grandfather refuses to sell the creature (and then turns his back), the grandson sells him the Mogwai anyway, but not before reminding him of his three main rules of upkeep, that being 1. No bright light, and sunlight will kill him, 2. Keep him far away from water, and 3. No matter what, never feed him after midnight (although the question of when it’s alright to feed him again is never really addressed). Axton agrees and brings him home as a gift to his adult son Billy, played by Zach Galligan in one of the most unusual lead actor AND character choices in blockbuster history, as Galligan himself is one of those guys who was unknown back then and basically still is today even as his acting really isn’t all that bad, but even as we accept Billy Peltzer as our fresh faced young hero of the piece, we still notice some slightly off elements about his 20 something character that cause him to fall heavily under the qualifications of him being considered to be an overgrown manchild, such as his being heavily into comic books, having a 12 year old boy (Corey Feldman) as his best friend, and seeming to have no real friends his own age save for his sweet crush on his beautiful co worker at the bank where he works as a teller played by the irresistible Phoebe Cates, still hot coming off of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and becoming an even bigger star after this when after late in the film her sweet as honey character recounts a now infamous monologue about how she lost her own father at Christmastime in such a way that we realize just exactly how cracked she really is in the head (the prime example in the film about how everything is not how it seems on the surface). Also working at the bank is the young, cocky Executive Vice President played by Judge Reinhold, whose role was cut so much to smithereens in the editing room that he disappears from the film completely after the first ten minutes, but still gets off a few good barbs when he degrades Galligan after work while having a few with him at the local bar. It isn’t long before we find out the repercussions of breaking rules 2 and 3, as getting a Mogwai wet causes him to reproduce, albeit the new ones aren’t nearly as nice as Gizmo, and when they get fed after midnight, they then enter into a cocoon state only to transform into the dirty, nasty, rotten title creatures, an insane bunch of little demons dedicated to wreaking havoc for nearly the entire rest of the movie while our hero can only start to figure out a way to stop them. And thus the movie itself kicks into overdrive as this friendly, boring, small town (the same one used for Hill Valley in Back To The Future) is completely and utterly laid waste to, from Galligan’s grouchy neighbor (beloved character actor Dick Miller) and his ditsy wife (Jackie Joseph, still showing signs from having played Audrey in the original Little Shop Of Horrors) being run down with a snow plow, to the witchy town mogul (Polly Holliday) being sent flying out her window at a hundred miles per hour, to the Sheriff (Scott Brady) and his deputy (Jonathan Banks) becoming so panicked that they actually start to flee the carnage before their brakes that were cut by the Gremlins cause them to have a fatal crash. In time, we find out that the Gremlins themselves actually quite enjoy some of the more indulgent pleasures that we ourselves do, and this consumerism mentality soon comes completely to the fore as they settle in at the local movie theatre for a private screening of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and eat it up with glee just as enjoyably as they do the theatre’s concession stand. While it is certainly hard to relate to the monstrous creatures on most levels, nonetheless their general insanity and quick studies at learning the elements of our culture that they find themselves in definitely make them very funny and even smile inducing, even as we know while watching them that in the end they must be destroyed. While this is obviously not a movie with a deep seated message, it does manage to transcend the theme that in time all in this world that is old and outdated must sooner or later be burned to the ground in order to make room for that which is fresh, young, and new, even if it means stepping over those who represent the old guard to be able to do so. And of course on a sheer fantasy level, there is the spectacle of Gizmo himself, all sweet and pure of heart and so full of such positive vibes, essentially one of “nature’s gifts” whom only the wisest and most sage among us is qualified to tend to, with the consequences of not doing so being utterly horrific, even if the process of watching those actual consequences develop makes for a motion picture experience in giggling chaos that is second to none with the Chris Walas designed little title monsters still looking more lifelike and realistic to this day than any CGI could possibly muster, and the heady rush of pure unadulterated anarchy is one that any viewer could get comfortably used to, since a lot of entertainment can come out of a movie if anything goes…
10/10